Rape The Fifty Shades Way

No one wanted to say: I told you so, but Christian leaders and abuse victims’ groups warned that glorifying sexual violence against a woman as entertainment would have ill effects. And so, here we go.

A 19-year-old engineering student from the University of Illinois at Chicago was charged on Monday with aggravated criminal sexual assault against another student. Although the two had been intimate before, he told police he was attempting to re-enact a violent scene from the Fifty Shades of Grey movie–binding, gagging, hitting and raping her. The victim reported to police that she had asked him to stop but he did not.

She said it was not consensual. After all, who wants to be beaten and raped? Yet, that was what the hero in Fifty Shades did and the heroine had consented. So who knows what’s what anymore? Of course “no” means “no” but when it gets mixed in with “yes” and the consent includes violence, the situation becomes as clear as smog. After all, Fifty Shades of Grey has presented sexual violence as just another fun activity. So, rather than go to the library to study that night, the rape suspect played the part of Christian Grey in his dorm room.

This rape, modeled after Fifty Shade of Grey is just one single official report. But how many women will be bold enough to actually come forward to report such a thing? Imagine the humiliation of explaining that it all began as consensual but took a turn for the non-consensual.

Imagine the Investigations

Sadomasochism is now the stuff of blockbuster movie fame. So, drawing the line for black and white becomes very grey…but of course.  The dialogue below does not reflect the actual case, but rather shows how participating in disordered sex blurs everything.

Victim: Yeah, I do own those handcuffs but…um, the whip…no that’s his. I had been intimate with him before… but, but, he wasn’t suppose to hit me so hard.

Police: So you agreed to sadomasochistic sex, but your plan differed from his plan?

Victim: Yes, I did not consent to all of it. I did not want the tie stuffed in my mouth, and I was trying to tell him to stop. (By the way, the alleged victim in this week’s case had a tie stuffed in her mouth as apparently was done in the movie.)

Police: But you consented to some of it? And you’ve had consensual sex with him before, right?

Victim: Yes, but I wanted him to stop. This time. Well, not at first, but eventually.

Police: Let me get this straight; you admitted going along and planning to have sex in the beginning but later changed your mind when he began hitting you harder than you had to agreed at first but you had trouble telling him because there was a tie in your mouth? 

Enough is Enough

Media Expert and author, Teresa Tomeo, has been warning people on her Syndicated Catholic Talk Shows Catholic Connection & The Catholic View for Women that there would be fallout from the Fifty Shades phenomena that glorifies sadomasochistic sex.  In her best-selling book Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture, she encouraged women to follow the messages of Christ and not a fallen world. In her latest blog article she noted, “Unfortunately, this story out of Chicago is just one example of how our culture has become desensitized by violence in the media and specifically violent pornography.” Tomeo explained that the abuser’s actions were “consistent with what the experts say happens to those who consume violent pornography; they don’t or can’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

Given the huge success of the film at the box office, Tomeo warned that we are likely to see more such copycat rape stories. “We shouldn’t be surprised,” she wrote, “but we should be even more motivated to speak out against pornography. Enough is enough.”

The problem is that if you have a tie in your mouth and are handcuffed, your partner might not hear you saying “Enough!” It is Jesus Christ and his teachings that lead to true happiness. Trashy movies like Fifty Shades just lead to rape, criminal charges, and a whole lot of hurt.